Smartphones might be getting smarter, but very few of them are still able to offer the battery life to match its daily use. Most start thumping their chests as soon as they come closer to 12 hours of battery life, which for most users is at least a few hours short of the time they need to spend away from a power source. This is why most smartphone users carry at least one power charger in their bag. But can a power bank become more portable? Can you remember to charge these devices before you leave home? Well, some manufacturers seem to be getting closer to the answer. XS Powercard The XS Powercard is a portable charger developed by Armaan Gandhi, Arzan Irani and Sahej Sethi. But a portable charger is no big deal. The XS Powercard is a bit more than a regular portable charger. One, it is slim enough to fit into your wallet. Two, you can control the charge rate between standard and fast. Plus, it works as a data transfer cable too and offers at least 8GB of storage. Price: Rs 2,499 for 8GB version. What is good? Yes, the size is definitely a big factor if you end up buying one of these. It is really slim, at least along most of its body. You can fit it in a wallet, but the top end will pop out as it is not as slim as the rest of the powercard. So, whether the wallet will fit in your jeans pocket is another question. The USB and micro-USB cables,which you need to charge a phone or transfer data from it, are well concealed. The cables can fit into and be pulled out of the sides when you need them and I would call this a good design feature of the power card. The overall build quality is good and the wires should withstand the constant pulling and pushing in for a few months at least. Since you will use the cable to charge the phone and transfer data, the powercard will get charged on the side without you really having to remember to charge it everyday. The 2200mAh battery was enough to fully charge a OnePlus one which was down to 10% in about an hour. The device does not have an on/off switch and can detect when a phone is plugged in to start charging. However, there were times when it did not switch off even hours after the phone had been unplugged. On the positive side, if you are using the Powercard to charge your phone while it is also plugged to a power source, then the phone charges first followed by the power bank. What is not so good? The device comes with a detachable 8GB flash drive into the sides for you to carry important files. But I don’t see the use for one here, especially when all of us are carrying USB drives in our keychains, bags and purses. Life would have been much easier if the storage was inbuilt and could be accessed while charging the phone. Or the storage can be dropped to make the device cheaper. The XS Powercard is a very simple device with an effective design. But it intimidates you a bit. I had no clue about a certain toggle button on the device. Is it a power button? Is it supposed to trigger a nuclear bomb inside? Well, in the end I got hold of the manual - which incidentally was inside the detachable USB drive - to understand that was to be used to switch the charging rates. A simple word on the device would have cleared this confusion. Anyway, it is very difficult to get the button to move with your fingers. Should you buy it? Yes, if you are one of those who constantly needs power for your phone. The XS powercard is practical and gives you some additional features that make it a worthy buy.
